Echo, Echo
by Sulky Shadow
Summary: It was inevitable. The clock is always ticking, always going around in the same circle, over and over. And history must run its course, in that same circle, over and over.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. All characters go to their respectful owners. I only own this story.

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><p><strong>Echo, Echo<strong>

It started out fine; he was a good leader and peacekeeper. He went to several cities and villages, listening to complaints about the Fire Nation, and letting them demand what they wanted in return for fighting for a hundred years.

And all was well.

Without Ozai ruling anymore, the Fire Nation no longer had to worry about speaking out. If one of its people was unhappy or in need of help, he'd be there with an apology and a question of how he could be of assistance.

And for a while, everyone was happy.

The Southern Water Tribe became stronger with the help of their sister Tribe. More Waterbenders began popping up, and all of them were taught to be masters. With no need to worry about being attacked, he didn't lose sleep over the thought of more people with his opposite element running around.

The Earth Kingdom had remained robust during the war, but now no city was afraid to mention the nonexistent war. In fact, it was quite the opposite: The Earthbenders began to reiterate tales of how they remained resilient to Ozai's attacks. He learned much about war tactics from the Earth Kingdom. Not that he would ever need them.

As for the Air Nomads… Well, it wasn't a secret that they'd all been wiped out. But that hadn't stopped people from looking. He'd helped give people hope that things could change. He'd even helped look. Another reason to believe things were finally better.

He spoke with his father, once a month, every month. It was always for the same reason. But Ozai never uttered a word that was helpful. All Ozai ever spoke of was how his nation would fall at the hands of someone as weak-minded as he.

Not that he had paid any heed to what his father said. He continued to visit his father, but he remained the same: offering to help where needed and keeping peace.

And this continued for many years. The world began to repair the hole in its history that the Fire Nation's war had created.

But people began to get restless. The Fire Nation had grown accustomed to war and knew not what to do when it was over. He had tried to use peace talks, but as soon as he left, they became angry again. Guards were sent throughout the cities to help break up fights and pacify their bitter souls, but there were just too many rebellions, and he had to take drastic measures.

The riots soon became so bad, that the only way to prevent them was to lock people up. And after calming down those who were locked up, he had them released. This worked for a while, but soon the fights broke out again, and more people needed to be put behind bars for a time.

But when the jails became too full, and the people too destructive, he had to resort to violence. He did not have time to wait for the Fire Nation to build more jails, and if peace talks no longer worked, maybe anger would.

So whenever there was a fight or riot, instead of having the guards break it up, he had them beat anyone they saw involved. And the results couldn't have been better. The Fire Nation began to settle, the riots stopped, and the only struggles were the occasional bar fights.

And he began to relax again. He told himself that it just took a firm hand to control his nation. But the seeds of doubt had already been planted.

It only took a few months after the beatings became punishment for him to become paranoid. He began to believe that because his nation was rebelling, the others must as well. No amount of evidence could convince him otherwise.

He began sending out fleets of ships to check on the other nations. They all came back with the same news: all was well. But he no longer had confidence that they were right. He believed that everyone was against him and his desire for peace. So he sent soldiers with the next fleet. The soldiers went and attacked several villages and cities, to show that he would not be afraid to take matters into his own hands, should he need to.

And while no one struck back at him or his kingdom, he still doubted.

So he sent out more soldiers. These soldiers were giving the task of finding a disobedient person—man, woman, or child—and killing them. He said he needed to show that he was ruthless when he needed to be, and the only way to prove that was to kill someone.

But the other nations became afraid, and began rebuilding armies to defend themselves if the soldiers returned.

When he learned of this, he became even more leery, thinking they were rebelling against him and the Fire Nation once more.

He'd tried his best to keep peace, but the other nations had proven that they still needed to be shown how to get along with the Fire Nation. So he sent out wave after wave of soldiers, tearing down anyone that stood in their way.

And all too soon, the Avatar was needed again.

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><p><strong>Please Review<strong>


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